WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996) • Hacker News Board

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#31

Post by agumonkey » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:26 PM UTC

hilbert42 wrote: post #9

I've used many wordprocessors but WordStar still is my favorite, I first used it under CP/M and later on the IBM PC. Anyone who has used it knows that once you got the feel for the WordStar keystroke diamond it was magic to use. I still have hundreds of files in WordStar format and I can either import them into a GUI WYSIWYG WP or I can still use them in WordStar 7 running under an emulated environment in Windows. Wo…

> WordStar keystroke diamond

reminds me of Alias software (Maya but maybe others) use or layout as ergonomics.

They used QWER and ZXCV as main rapid keybindings for the most used operations (pick, translate, rotate, scale). You didn't have to invest more than 20 seconds to remember that.

A lot of knowledge of this kind is probably locked in old forgotten ware.

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#32

Post by agumonkey » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:28 PM UTC

tablespoon wrote: post #29

mhd wrote: post #11

I don't have a deep personal affectation for WordStar, although I do appreciate it's keyboard layout, but what I do miss is writers having opinions about these things. These days it seems that it's mostly "whatever version of Word that came with my Laptop/Times New Roman 12". We programmers still have our "holy wars" (although I see a decrease of passion here, too, with safe choices like VSC or IntelliJ being more an…

> WordPerfect. (Heck, WordPerfect even made lawyers have an opinion of their own) IIRC, WordPerfect is only still a thing because Word still does not do footnotes the way lawyers like (and courts require).

Oh, french court room I helped last summer does indeed use WordPerfect 12 .. it might very well be due to this sort of arguments.

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#33

Post by paultopia » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:30 PM UTC

tablespoon wrote: post #29

mhd wrote: post #11

I don't have a deep personal affectation for WordStar, although I do appreciate it's keyboard layout, but what I do miss is writers having opinions about these things. These days it seems that it's mostly "whatever version of Word that came with my Laptop/Times New Roman 12". We programmers still have our "holy wars" (although I see a decrease of passion here, too, with safe choices like VSC or IntelliJ being more an…

> WordPerfect. (Heck, WordPerfect even made lawyers have an opinion of their own) IIRC, WordPerfect is only still a thing because Word still does not do footnotes the way lawyers like (and courts require).

It's much more than footnotes. Courts have a lot of very picky formatting requirements, plus lawyers care a lot about presentation. Reveal codes is the thing about WordPerfect that lawyers love the most, because it gives you fine grained control over that stuff on a character/word level without having to pray to the Word Styles god.

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#34

Post by kcartlidge » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:30 PM UTC

I love the WordStar key combos, and still have some relevant muscle memory. Back in the day I learned them at about the same time as using Turbo Pascal 3 - which used a few of the same ones.

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#35

Post by wef » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:31 PM UTC

While we're being nostalgic, VDE, a WordStar clone, was another miracle of tiny code. I still run it now and then in a DOSEMU emulator on Linux.

https://www.sites.google.com/site/vdeeditor/Home

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#36

Post by kayodelycaon » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:32 PM UTC

mhd wrote: post #11

I don't have a deep personal affectation for WordStar, although I do appreciate it's keyboard layout, but what I do miss is writers having opinions about these things. These days it seems that it's mostly "whatever version of Word that came with my Laptop/Times New Roman 12". We programmers still have our "holy wars" (although I see a decrease of passion here, too, with safe choices like VSC or IntelliJ being more an…

I’m in a couple of chats with writers. There are constant discussions about tools: Google Docs, Word, Apple Pages, Scrivener, and even vim with markdown and git.

We all have different tools and different ways of writing. We’ve shared photos of our workspaces.

A lot of this doesn’t happen in public anymore because we’ve moved to chat programs like Telegram and Discord.

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#37

Post by hilbert42 » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:37 PM UTC

LocalH wrote: post #24

hilbert42 wrote: post #9

I've used many wordprocessors but WordStar still is my favorite, I first used it under CP/M and later on the IBM PC. Anyone who has used it knows that once you got the feel for the WordStar keystroke diamond it was magic to use. I still have hundreds of files in WordStar format and I can either import them into a GUI WYSIWYG WP or I can still use them in WordStar 7 running under an emulated environment in Windows. Wo…

>(from memory I think WordMaster (an earlier WP that predated WordStar), was actually first—someone correct me if I'm wrong) From a cursory search, it seems that WordMaster is the direct predecessor to WordStar, programmed by the same person.

From memory—it's been a long time—WordMaster was MicroPro's first product so presumably Rubinstein applied the EULA to it first (thus it was likely the first with an EULA). If not, then I'd guess he'd have applied the EULA with later issues/releases as WordMaster was also concurrently available along with WordStar.

Anyone with an original CP/M WordMaster 8" floppy (or its contents) to check?

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#38

Post by kcartlidge » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:37 PM UTC

reiichiroh wrote: post #17

glitchc wrote: post #4

I guess I’m too young for WordStar. WordPerfect 6.2 is immediate enough for me and the Alt-based menubar feels very familiar. To each his own.

For whatever reason, v5.1 of WordPerfect remains my favorite.

Agreed. Version 5.1, or 4.2 if I'm feeling particularly minimal. Alongside notes kept in a DataEase DOS v4.5 database.

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#39

Post by hilbert42 » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:47 PM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #31

hilbert42 wrote: post #9

I've used many wordprocessors but WordStar still is my favorite, I first used it under CP/M and later on the IBM PC. Anyone who has used it knows that once you got the feel for the WordStar keystroke diamond it was magic to use. I still have hundreds of files in WordStar format and I can either import them into a GUI WYSIWYG WP or I can still use them in WordStar 7 running under an emulated environment in Windows. Wo…

> WordStar keystroke diamond reminds me of Alias software (Maya but maybe others) use or layout as ergonomics. They used QWER and ZXCV as main rapid keybindings for the most used operations (pick, translate, rotate, scale). You didn't have to invest more than 20 seconds to remember that. A lot of knowledge of this kind is probably locked in old forgotten ware.

Think you're right, it rings bell (albeit faint). Did the Wang wordprocessor use it too? (I used a Wang WP a few times long ago but I've no idea now. In fact the Wang was the very first WP I used — except for KP26/29 card punches with an IBM-360.) :-)

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#40

Post by adamgordonbell » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 10:50 PM UTC

I am a big fan of Robert J. Sawyer. He is like Michael Crichton, except tech things go good instead of bad.

On the topic of word processors: The famed New Yorker writer John McPhee only writes with Kedit, which I had never even heard of until he spoke of it a lot in his book on writing. I seem to recall a story of him needing to pin down the orginal creator at some point, well after the creator had abandoned the project, for some tech support.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/14/structure

https://www.kedit.com/